The Hepatitis C epidemic which can lead to the deaths of millions of Pakistanis and up to half a million liver cancers is preventable.
King Edward Alumni Association, a component society of the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) conducted a seminar where a discussion on Hepatitis C was conducted. The meeting was addressed by APPNA Hepatitis C Program Chair Dr Maqbool Arshad and a United Kingdom Committee Member Dr Muhammad Abid.
The alarming incidence of hepatitis C in various districts of Punjab was highlighted in the meeting. The incidence in various districts across Punjab ranges from 6.6 to 13.1 percent. Alarmingly, the incidence of the disease in neighbouring India is as low as 1.1 to 2 percent.
It is expected that three million Pakistani patients suffering from severe progressive hepatitis C will suffer from liver failure and esophageal varices which could actively bleed and lead to slow deaths. There will be up to three million deaths via this disease in the next one to two decades. Liver transplants are out of reach for most of our population. There is also an alarmingly high incidence of liver cancers in the country.
The seminar highlighted the preventable causes of Hepatitis C which included the reuse of needles, the transfusion of blood with defective screening kits with high false negative results and up to 25 percent of blood which was transfused without screening the donors.
The seminar highlighted the use of improper disinfectants used to sterilise dental and surgical instruments. The spread of infection by barbers and beauty parlour workers was also discussed.
The seminar recommended that there should be a ‘universal’ introduction of auto-destructive syringes; the registration of hepatitis C screening kits and the immediate removal of defective kits from the market (which were causing the spread of hepatitis C); medical waste legislation and the enforcement of proper medical waste disposal to eliminate recycling disposable equipment. The reduction of unnecessary injections was also recommended.
